Publisher Spotlight: Running Press

Running Press is among the United States’ largest independent trade publishers, releasing more than 200 new titles a year under the imprints Running Press, Running Press Miniature Editions, Running Press Kids and Courage Books. Covering subjects such as science, history, children’s fiction and non-fiction, food and wine, pop culture and lifestyle, the Philadelphia-based subsidiary of Perseus Books Group is an ardent supporter of library eBook lending. Don’t miss titles like “Feminist Ryan Gosling,” which pairs quotations about feminist theory with steamy photos of the Hollywood heartthrob, or “Cake Balls,” with 51 recipes for the irresistible, bite-sized confections.

Lisa Cheng, editor of Running Press Kids, is effusive in her praise for libraries. “We heart the libraries,” she says. “With the tightness of our economy and the strain of making ends meet, libraries are an important and essential community resource in more ways than one. Oftentimes, I do not think they receive due credit for the extent they have adapted to the needs of their patrons, particularly kids and teens. Libraries’ determination to keep up-to-speed with new technologies and the literacy needed to use them have helped to make the written word available to every reader—which is particularly helpful when such things as after-school activities, jobs, and distance limit the ability to enter the physical doors of the library itself.

“From picture books to YA, the variety of kids’ books published has expanded exponentially in recent years,” Cheng continues. “And I absolutely love that libraries make a concerted effort to provide something for everybody. By giving the reader such opportunities as entering a world of mouse adventure in “The Secret of the Ginger Mice,” understanding the rough-and-tumble world of a teenage boy trying to avoid meth-dealing biker gangs in “Tap Out,”libraries bring the world at large into the grasp of each reader’s life—no strings or cost attached.”